Pleased with Villa's signings - FanZoner Craig Cochrane

I am praying for Dean Ashton and would be very happy if we also took Anton Ferdinand.

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Watch out the Big Four! Villa are coming to get you, so says FanZone blogger Craig Cochran.

This is the time of year when football fans up and down the land start making predictions for the season ahead - and it's always a very tough one for any Villa fan. We're always very optimistic and with a manager like MON (Martin O'Neill), who wouldn't be? But the way I see it going is as follows...

I believe the Premier League will be divided into many mini-leagues. In the top league you have a straight head-to-head between Man Utd and Chelsea. The second mini-league will also be a head-to-head between Arsenal and Liverpool.

Then comes the league that Villa will definitely feature in - and in my opinion our main competitors will be Tottenham, Portsmouth and Everton.

There will then be a fourth league, from mid-table to just above the relegation zone, containing West Ham, Man City, Sunderland, Bolton, Boro, Blackburn and Newcastle. That then leaves a relegation mini-league between five teams - Stoke, Hull, Wigan, Fulham and our lovely neighbours West Brom!

So, what can Villa fans realistically hope for this season?

Well, we are entering into a third year of MON and Randy Lerner's five-year plan to get us into the Champions League. After a slow start in the transfer window during the close season, we now find ourselves with seven new faces to date, all of which will improve our squad in my opinion. They are Friedel, Sidwell, Guzan, Davies (move now made permanent), Young, Shorey and most recently Carlos Cuellar.

Rumours

There are also strong rumours that we will add another two or three quality signings before the end of August. I am praying for Dean Ashton and would be very happy if we also took Anton Ferdinand, as we are still light on defenders.

The money for this will obviously come from the sale of Mr Pacey Gareth Barry - oh how I am counting the days until I commentate on his homecoming on August 31st!

With the quality signings to date and the news of more to come, I think MON and the troops can realistically win our "mini-league" and start putting pressure on the dodgy scousers for fourth, especially now they think Barry is the answer to their stumbling league form.

So, my predictions would be a fifth-place finish in the Premier League, a good run in the FA Cup (assuming we don't have our regular third fixture every season with Man Utd in the third round) and possibly winning the Carling Cup.

I also think we will gain valuable experience in the UEFA Cup, which will stand our younger players in good stead for the future. If we could get to the quarter-finals it would be great progress, anything else would be a bonus. How hard can the UEFA Cup be? Even Spurs made decent progress last year!

Winning start

We kick-off against Man City - and to make progress these are the games we have to win. We've struggled against them over the past few seasons, so it will be a tough game.

They have a great manager in Mark Hughes, but I think it will take him at least two seasons to make them a real threat. With their struggles to find strikers and also the issues that are going on with the new owner of the club now thinking of selling, I think we'll be too good for them and win 2-0.

To summarise, I believe this will be a very positive season for us and will see us cement our title of main challengers to the "Big Four". Then comes the fourth season of MON and Randy's plan - watch this space Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Man Utd, we're coming to get you!